Abstract This study examines the structural and policy obstacles hampering free movement of philanthropic capital across the EU’s ‘sea of generosity’. While free movement of capital is a key element in the EU single market as enshrined in the Treaty of Maastricht, this principle previously focused on the for-profit sphere and efficient markets. In 2009, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) confirmed that the free movement principle also covered philanthropic capital, with Member States being prohibited from restricting philanthropic capital movements and payments across borders. This decision should facilitate cross-border fundraising, investment, and tax-effective giving by both corporates and individuals. Yet, significant regulatory drag hinders the use of fiscal incentives, and to date, proposals for EU-wide policy solutions (e.g. a common public benefit definition) have failed. Using the theoretical construct of regulatory space, we highlight the regulatory space characteristics impacting cross-border philanthropic capital movement. This multi-regulatory space analysis finds that contrasting actions by regulators, disparate national policies and the dominance of tax evasion concerns affect the free movement of philanthropic capital across the EU. We argue EU philanthropy could be expanded if there was greater clarity regarding administrative taxation procedures and support for foreign charities and donors seeking to navigate the straits of comparability.
本研究考察了阻碍慈善资本在欧盟“慷慨之海”自由流动的结构性和政策障碍。尽管资本自由流动是《马斯特里赫特条约》(Treaty of Maastricht)所规定的欧盟单一市场的一个关键要素,但这一原则之前关注的是盈利领域和有效市场。2009年,欧洲法院(ECJ)确认,自由流动原则也适用于慈善资本,禁止成员国限制慈善资本的跨境流动和支付。这一决定将促进企业和个人的跨境筹资、投资和避税捐赠。然而,巨大的监管阻力阻碍了财政激励措施的使用,迄今为止,欧盟范围内的政策解决方案(例如,共同的公共利益定义)的提议都失败了。运用规制空间的理论构建,重点分析了影响慈善资本跨境流动的规制空间特征。这项多监管空间分析发现,监管机构的不同行动、不同的国家政策以及逃税担忧的主导地位影响了慈善资本在欧盟的自由流动。我们认为,如果在行政税收程序方面更加明确,并对寻求克服可比性困境的外国慈善机构和捐助者提供支持,欧盟的慈善事业就可以扩大。
{"title":"Cross-Border Tax and Philanthropy: Avoiding the Icebergs in the Sea of Generosity","authors":"Oonagh B. Breen, C. Cordery","doi":"10.1515/npf-2021-0031","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/npf-2021-0031","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This study examines the structural and policy obstacles hampering free movement of philanthropic capital across the EU’s ‘sea of generosity’. While free movement of capital is a key element in the EU single market as enshrined in the Treaty of Maastricht, this principle previously focused on the for-profit sphere and efficient markets. In 2009, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) confirmed that the free movement principle also covered philanthropic capital, with Member States being prohibited from restricting philanthropic capital movements and payments across borders. This decision should facilitate cross-border fundraising, investment, and tax-effective giving by both corporates and individuals. Yet, significant regulatory drag hinders the use of fiscal incentives, and to date, proposals for EU-wide policy solutions (e.g. a common public benefit definition) have failed. Using the theoretical construct of regulatory space, we highlight the regulatory space characteristics impacting cross-border philanthropic capital movement. This multi-regulatory space analysis finds that contrasting actions by regulators, disparate national policies and the dominance of tax evasion concerns affect the free movement of philanthropic capital across the EU. We argue EU philanthropy could be expanded if there was greater clarity regarding administrative taxation procedures and support for foreign charities and donors seeking to navigate the straits of comparability.","PeriodicalId":44152,"journal":{"name":"Nonprofit Policy Forum","volume":"369 1","pages":"273 - 305"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-08-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76756639","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Simone Poledrini, Elizabeth A. M. Searing, Alessandro Montrone
Abstract The world is no stranger to crises, and social enterprises struggle to both survive and deliver on mission. This study explores how public interventions can facilitate economic recovery through targeted assistance to social enterprises, specifically the Italian social cooperative. Despite their prevalence and beneficial impact on Italian communities, not all Italian social cooperatives are economically and/or financially healthy. So this study answers the following two research questions: what is the financial and economic condition of Italian social cooperatives, and how could scarce public resources be directed to social enterprises in order to further the goals of social policy? To assess financial and economic health, we conduct financial statement analysis based on data extracted from the AIDA database. This methodology makes it possible to analyze Italian social cooperatives with techniques designed to monitor the situation in terms of both financial balance (current ratio, warranty ratio, and equity multiplier) and of economic balance (ROA, ROI, and sustainability of financial charges). Using these ratios, we create a matrix of financial and economic health and then provide guidance on which level of public support in each classification is likely to provide the most overall societal benefit. Such analysis offers not only benefits to Italian policymakers and citizens, but is a topic of particular interest for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners around the world evaluating policy responses to crises such as COVID-19.
{"title":"A Model for Directing and Modulating Public Interventions in Social Enterprises","authors":"Simone Poledrini, Elizabeth A. M. Searing, Alessandro Montrone","doi":"10.1515/npf-2021-0030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/npf-2021-0030","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The world is no stranger to crises, and social enterprises struggle to both survive and deliver on mission. This study explores how public interventions can facilitate economic recovery through targeted assistance to social enterprises, specifically the Italian social cooperative. Despite their prevalence and beneficial impact on Italian communities, not all Italian social cooperatives are economically and/or financially healthy. So this study answers the following two research questions: what is the financial and economic condition of Italian social cooperatives, and how could scarce public resources be directed to social enterprises in order to further the goals of social policy? To assess financial and economic health, we conduct financial statement analysis based on data extracted from the AIDA database. This methodology makes it possible to analyze Italian social cooperatives with techniques designed to monitor the situation in terms of both financial balance (current ratio, warranty ratio, and equity multiplier) and of economic balance (ROA, ROI, and sustainability of financial charges). Using these ratios, we create a matrix of financial and economic health and then provide guidance on which level of public support in each classification is likely to provide the most overall societal benefit. Such analysis offers not only benefits to Italian policymakers and citizens, but is a topic of particular interest for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners around the world evaluating policy responses to crises such as COVID-19.","PeriodicalId":44152,"journal":{"name":"Nonprofit Policy Forum","volume":"33 1","pages":"307 - 332"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77621268","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Nonprofit organizations often partner with government agencies to deliver public services. As communities adapt to new transportation options and technologies, nonprofit organizations and the services they provide need to be kept accessible to their clients. This exploratory research note is among the first of its kind to consider the impact of transportation network companies – like Uber and Lyft – on the accessibility of human services provided by nonprofit organizations. Results raise key questions about accessibility, cost and nonprofit organizational capacity in the use of these services to support traditionally under-served and vulnerable communities. Policy implications and recommendations are also provided.
{"title":"Accessibility of Nonprofit Services: Transportation Network Companies and Client Mobility","authors":"D. Mason, Miranda Menard","doi":"10.1515/npf-2021-0059","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/npf-2021-0059","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Nonprofit organizations often partner with government agencies to deliver public services. As communities adapt to new transportation options and technologies, nonprofit organizations and the services they provide need to be kept accessible to their clients. This exploratory research note is among the first of its kind to consider the impact of transportation network companies – like Uber and Lyft – on the accessibility of human services provided by nonprofit organizations. Results raise key questions about accessibility, cost and nonprofit organizational capacity in the use of these services to support traditionally under-served and vulnerable communities. Policy implications and recommendations are also provided.","PeriodicalId":44152,"journal":{"name":"Nonprofit Policy Forum","volume":"22 1","pages":"333 - 343"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87896777","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Growing efforts to shrink civil societies’ scope of action are evident around the globe. Germany’s civil society has not been fully immune from this, but analysing whether there is a shrinking civic space requires a twofold perspective. While having a high democratic state standard and a rather supportive environment, there is also a discourse of whether it is legitimate for civil society organisations (CSO) to be politically active, following controversial recent lawsuits against CSOs on that ground. Additionally, there is an increasing atmosphere of hate and demonization from some social groups against civil society activists that impede their work and scope of action. Accordingly, there is an ongoing discussion whether Germany’s civil society is affected by the shrinking space phenomenon or not. To capture and theoretically comprehend these processes in Germany, I argue that these signs of “shrinking spaces” should rather be understood as a contestation that is the outcome of a growing re-politicization of civil society in the last 15 years. It is rooted in a new wave of politicization in which democracy is no longer an undisputed paradigm. Against this background, over the last decade, civil society has become again a terrain of contestation where different views and options are expressed and collide, but that is also attacked from the outside. Two main changes, I argue, have driven forward the politicization of civil society: first, a new social cleavage that is exploited by (right-wing) populism and, second, the claim for more direct participation in the democratic systems by the citizens which produced new political opportunity structures of good governance that allow more CSOs to advocate. While this process emancipated many CSOs, it also brought forth different contestations about legitimate participation. In this way, one can simultaneously observe a shrinking and a growing space for civil society in Germany.
{"title":"Germany’s Contested Civil Society in a Time of Politization","authors":"S. Hummel","doi":"10.1515/npf-2021-0060","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/npf-2021-0060","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Growing efforts to shrink civil societies’ scope of action are evident around the globe. Germany’s civil society has not been fully immune from this, but analysing whether there is a shrinking civic space requires a twofold perspective. While having a high democratic state standard and a rather supportive environment, there is also a discourse of whether it is legitimate for civil society organisations (CSO) to be politically active, following controversial recent lawsuits against CSOs on that ground. Additionally, there is an increasing atmosphere of hate and demonization from some social groups against civil society activists that impede their work and scope of action. Accordingly, there is an ongoing discussion whether Germany’s civil society is affected by the shrinking space phenomenon or not. To capture and theoretically comprehend these processes in Germany, I argue that these signs of “shrinking spaces” should rather be understood as a contestation that is the outcome of a growing re-politicization of civil society in the last 15 years. It is rooted in a new wave of politicization in which democracy is no longer an undisputed paradigm. Against this background, over the last decade, civil society has become again a terrain of contestation where different views and options are expressed and collide, but that is also attacked from the outside. Two main changes, I argue, have driven forward the politicization of civil society: first, a new social cleavage that is exploited by (right-wing) populism and, second, the claim for more direct participation in the democratic systems by the citizens which produced new political opportunity structures of good governance that allow more CSOs to advocate. While this process emancipated many CSOs, it also brought forth different contestations about legitimate participation. In this way, one can simultaneously observe a shrinking and a growing space for civil society in Germany.","PeriodicalId":44152,"journal":{"name":"Nonprofit Policy Forum","volume":"108 1","pages":"195 - 210"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79394438","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract In this introductory essay for the special issue on contested spaces in liberal democracies, we review how and to what extent the closing or shrinking space debate that has influenced the civil society discourse in authoritarian contexts presents an appropriate mode of analysis for similar, disconcerting developments that have been observed in liberal democracies. In particular, recent changes in Germany, Austria, Israel, and Greece are covered in this issue. We suggest that while shrinking space mechanisms are observable, civil society is nevertheless experiencing new activism and growth. In contrast to authoritarian regimes, spaces in liberal democracies are increasingly contested reflecting both a politization of issues that nonprofits, NGOs or CSOs are working on, such as migration and climate change, but also a new civic agency that expands the political dimensions of civil society, embracing its more political functions beyond traditional service delivery.
{"title":"Contested Civic Spaces in Liberal Democracies","authors":"","doi":"10.1515/npf-2022-0026","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/npf-2022-0026","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In this introductory essay for the special issue on contested spaces in liberal democracies, we review how and to what extent the closing or shrinking space debate that has influenced the civil society discourse in authoritarian contexts presents an appropriate mode of analysis for similar, disconcerting developments that have been observed in liberal democracies. In particular, recent changes in Germany, Austria, Israel, and Greece are covered in this issue. We suggest that while shrinking space mechanisms are observable, civil society is nevertheless experiencing new activism and growth. In contrast to authoritarian regimes, spaces in liberal democracies are increasingly contested reflecting both a politization of issues that nonprofits, NGOs or CSOs are working on, such as migration and climate change, but also a new civic agency that expands the political dimensions of civil society, embracing its more political functions beyond traditional service delivery.","PeriodicalId":44152,"journal":{"name":"Nonprofit Policy Forum","volume":"20 1","pages":"179 - 193"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83823134","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract The paper analyzes changing civic spaces in Austrian civil society. Different levels of authoritarian politics in different phases of the last 8 years – the recent phase intertwined with the Covid-19 crisis – are analysed in terms of their impact on civil society frameworks. Empirically, the paper draws on three studies completed in 2014, 2019 and 2021. The results shed light on the complex interplay between civil society and the government. Specifically, they show the steps towards authoritarian governing of early state autocrats related to civil society, in particular the often-unspectacular elements that together form a clear pattern of civil society capture and changing civic spaces. Further, they show both the vulnerability of civil society regarding framework conditions – e.g. posed by the pandemic – and politics but also its strategies of resilience.
{"title":"Changing Civic Spaces in the Light of Authoritarian Elements of Politics and the Covid Crisis – The Case of Austria","authors":"R. Simsa","doi":"10.1515/npf-2021-0053","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/npf-2021-0053","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The paper analyzes changing civic spaces in Austrian civil society. Different levels of authoritarian politics in different phases of the last 8 years – the recent phase intertwined with the Covid-19 crisis – are analysed in terms of their impact on civil society frameworks. Empirically, the paper draws on three studies completed in 2014, 2019 and 2021. The results shed light on the complex interplay between civil society and the government. Specifically, they show the steps towards authoritarian governing of early state autocrats related to civil society, in particular the often-unspectacular elements that together form a clear pattern of civil society capture and changing civic spaces. Further, they show both the vulnerability of civil society regarding framework conditions – e.g. posed by the pandemic – and politics but also its strategies of resilience.","PeriodicalId":44152,"journal":{"name":"Nonprofit Policy Forum","volume":"36 1","pages":"211 - 228"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81037893","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract This article takes a closer look at various developments in Greece with regard to the status of civil society (more specifically regarding certain NGOs and volunteer-run solidarity initiatives), a country that was challenged in the last decades by foreign immigration and especially by a serious refugee crisis in 2015. The latter had an immediate impact on NGO activities in the country, which became in many cases seriously questioned, contested or restricted. Greece’s case can be used as a testing ground for examining and understanding the complex intricacies between establishing viable civic structures and becoming aware of local sensitivities pertaining to security and other issues.
{"title":"Contested Civic Spaces in Greece in the Context of Foreign Immigration and the Refugee Crisis of 2015","authors":"Vasilios N. Makrides","doi":"10.1515/npf-2021-0045","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/npf-2021-0045","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article takes a closer look at various developments in Greece with regard to the status of civil society (more specifically regarding certain NGOs and volunteer-run solidarity initiatives), a country that was challenged in the last decades by foreign immigration and especially by a serious refugee crisis in 2015. The latter had an immediate impact on NGO activities in the country, which became in many cases seriously questioned, contested or restricted. Greece’s case can be used as a testing ground for examining and understanding the complex intricacies between establishing viable civic structures and becoming aware of local sensitivities pertaining to security and other issues.","PeriodicalId":44152,"journal":{"name":"Nonprofit Policy Forum","volume":"9 1","pages":"251 - 268"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-06-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82445209","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract This article analyzes the recent 14th Five-Year Plan for Social Organization Development, which signifies the Chinese party-state’s comprehensive planning for NGOs in the years 2021–2025. By clarifying the guiding ideology, basic principles, goals, targets, and tasks, the Plan stresses a dual political–regulatory mechanism that drives China’s nonprofit sector further in transitioning from an emerging organizational field to a manufactured civil society and shifts nonprofit policy fragmentation toward institutionalization. The Plan manifests centralized means to corral NGOs into a disciplined and capable nonprofit sector that subordinates itself to and enhances the authoritarian regime. Implications drawn from this article update policy analysts on state-NGO relations and the trajectory of the nonprofit sector in China.
{"title":"14th Five-Year Plan for Social Organization Development: China’s Nonprofit Sector in Transition","authors":"Qun Wang","doi":"10.1515/npf-2022-0016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/npf-2022-0016","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article analyzes the recent 14th Five-Year Plan for Social Organization Development, which signifies the Chinese party-state’s comprehensive planning for NGOs in the years 2021–2025. By clarifying the guiding ideology, basic principles, goals, targets, and tasks, the Plan stresses a dual political–regulatory mechanism that drives China’s nonprofit sector further in transitioning from an emerging organizational field to a manufactured civil society and shifts nonprofit policy fragmentation toward institutionalization. The Plan manifests centralized means to corral NGOs into a disciplined and capable nonprofit sector that subordinates itself to and enhances the authoritarian regime. Implications drawn from this article update policy analysts on state-NGO relations and the trajectory of the nonprofit sector in China.","PeriodicalId":44152,"journal":{"name":"Nonprofit Policy Forum","volume":"27 1","pages":"345 - 359"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-06-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87387240","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Role of Proximate Democracy Entrepreneurship in Building a Multiracial Democracy","authors":"Yordanos Eyoel","doi":"10.1515/npf-2021-0046","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/npf-2021-0046","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44152,"journal":{"name":"Nonprofit Policy Forum","volume":"76 1","pages":"205 - 211"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-04-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83836354","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}